History of Us: Lion's Cry
by ajremix
Summary: History of Us Arc, pre-Mega Man 7. Between eyes that have never seen and eyes that have never experienced, which ones are the blindest? What would you give to save the one that gives you true life? Slash (the character, not the genre)
1. First: Encounter

Lion's Cry  
  
First: Encounter  
  
by Lady Virgo  
  
  
  
"Brought to life  
  
to see the wonders  
  
that you imagine  
  
through blind eyes"  
  
///  
  
His life was, for the most part, peaceful. That is, if he spent his time in either his quarters or the fortress's extensive library. No one ever bothered him for one, he reinforced the lock to his door and two, the other Robot Masters seemed, more or less, allergic to information. All the better for him.  
  
Slash was, by no means, a friendly robot. He was ill tempered and cold and tended to, more often than not, insult someone whenever he opened his mouth. But it was the same to him, being naturally mean meant he would be left alone, and being alone was something he enjoyed. No annoying chatter from others, no having to pretend to be nice, no worrying about impending arguments and break-ups. Perhaps his attitude was more of a defense mechanism, or maybe it was because he was wary around being around so many other 'males' because vying for 'alpha male' was that much more competitive. Or maybe it was because he heard all the sob stories ten times over from the gossiping Robot Masters three days after his activation.  
  
But it didn't matter to him, none of it did. He was alone and he was happy about it. The only time he was ever happy being with the others was during practice, taking down one of his overly cocky elders. He ranked in the top 10% Robot Masters as physically strongest, his speed and agility was only beaten by Quick who- after seeing how easily Slash put down Robot Masters more battle ready than he –refused to spar him. His claws, triple enforced to keep from shattering, were a terror in close combat, but his speed made it impossible to fight him from long-range. Only a few Robot Masters got off easy when they faced him, their battle experience and dexterity rivaling his raw skill.  
  
He huffed, flipping idly through a book. Fighting wasn't what bothered him so much now. Now it was the threat of boredom. He had a mind like a sponge, anything he read or saw once committed forever in memory, always eager to find more to add to his impressive intelligence. And though Wily's storehouse of knowledge was large and filling, Slash had already come to the point where he had gone through everything worth going through and the rest were just repeats of things he had already seen, but in a different writing style.  
  
He scowled, feet propped up on the workstation he sat at. Already he was bored and he hadn't even been activated for a week.  
  
Drumming his hands upon the arm of the chair, he hummed slightly to himself, trying to think of what to do. He had already gone through the others' personal files, read through all the reports. He thought idly about hacking into the fortress' server to see if anyone kept a private journal of some sort but waved the idea off almost immediately. Hacking wasn't his thing. All the jargon, ARP redirects, Back Orifices, he even had trouble figuring out the Ethernet, though he mainly passed it off for it being such old technology.  
  
But then again, he was a robot built solely for combat, what need had he for such things as computer knowledge? Or any sort of knowledge at all. It seemed that Wily had basically given up on high-grade minds after the sixth army. A lot of Slash's brethren were rather simple and one- dimensional, lacking the passion and energy so abundant in the older Robot Masters.  
  
Slash himself didn't seem more than an angry recluse, nor did he make any move to seem more than that so his elders generally stayed away from him. He hardly spoke to anyone, he followed his orders diligently but not without an air of extreme distaste.  
  
He had even heard during dinner hours that some have created a betting pool to see how long it would be until he snapped and attacked someone mercilessly.  
  
Shaking his head, Slash stood up. He had a yearning for something that couldn't be held in these steel walls and now that he really didn't have anything to keep him busy during his long and rather dull stay, he figured he might as well go and find what exactly it was he was looking for.  
  
///  
  
"Beautiful work they did on these guys…"  
  
"You're telling me? 'M glad Wily programmed Freeze to be another med- bot. We need all the help we can get here…"  
  
"Damn, what happened to him? He's scorched all over the place."  
  
"Crystal, gimme a hand with this one, his arm's strewn over the ground."  
  
"Disgusting."  
  
"Now you /really/ know why no one else wants to be programmed for this job…"  
  
The three medical oriented Robot Masters paused as a familiar figure passed by the medbay's panoramic mirror.  
  
Slash was, surprisingly enough, without his armor, something they had only seen before he had received his Flash Case. He was tall, actually, his armor making him seem shorter than he really was. He was long and willowy, limbs taunt with muscles, perfect for fast, hard striking and as he moved, his tawny spiked hair bounced against his back. Gold skinned, gold haired, gold eyed… at that moment he gave the impression of a lion on the prowl.  
  
Freeze shivered as he bent over Knight's burnt body. Though he and Slash were brothers, there was something about him that made the elder afraid. He had talked to the others about it, heard their opinions on the clawed Robot Master and that reaffirmed his fear.  
  
Slash is, as Quick had said, empty.  
  
"Haven't you noticed? It's like the emptiness that was inside of Shadow, except this one's different. Slash wasn't copied off of anyone, he doesn't have someone to become independent of. He's just… incomplete, basically. I mean, no offense Freeze, but you guys really are rather…" he paused to search for the word, "blank. You have really only a few well- defined personality points, but with Slash, he's got… Er, help me out here, someone."  
  
"He's empty because his mind isn't fully constructed." Ring had picked up. "His protocols, logic chips, AI, everything else is in place and fine, but his personality is near zilch. It's like Wily-sama just tossed in some random chips and left it at that. It doesn't even look like he was going for a real personality, either. He's much more… animalistic than the others. It seems like everything he does is based off of instinct, he's always careful not to keep his back to anyone and he always seems to snarl whenever someone comes close to him. Even the way he fights, it makes him look like a… a…"  
  
"Giant cat…"  
  
Ring and Crystal looked up from where they were trying to piece back Skull's arm.  
  
"You say something, Freeze?"  
  
The youngest shook his head, realizing that Slash had long ago vacated the window. "Er, no. I'm fine, just… thinking."  
  
"Don't think too hard, now." Crystal replied, wagging a scalpel in his direction. "You have to focus on the guys your operating on or else they'll get pissed and beat you down."  
  
"Speaking of which…" Ring scowled, welding a crack in the pistons of Skull's forearm. "Magnet and Pharaoh's pissed at Slash right now for mangling this poor sod. He might wanna be careful."  
  
"I'm thinking /they/ might want to be careful."  
  
"I wonder," Freeze said quietly, still looking at the window, "where he was going…"  
  
There was a long pause as Crystal and Ring exchanged glances.  
  
"Don't worry about him. We have other guys to pay attention to."  
  
"Right."  
  
///  
  
It was… surprisingly nice outside.  
  
From all the times he had sought to see the weather from within drab confines, the outside world had always seemed to bright and cluttered for him to deal with. But, stepping out into the light, outside the ominous presence that was Skull Fortress and the mad doctor and his blood thirsty fighting force within, Slash decided that the world seemed actually a decent place.  
  
Made more decent, perhaps, should the populace stop staring at him like that.  
  
He was well aware of the mass's perception of Wily and his Robot Masters, granted he also knew how inaccurate the view was as well, but… he didn't really look /that/ inhuman. Did he?  
  
Well, okay. He wasn't impressively tall by human standards, standard sized human standards, but he was well formed, more so than other 'boys' his 'age'. So maybe a 17-year-old human male generally reached at least 6 feet in height- where as he was shorted a few inches –and maybe they weren't so thin and sculpted. And maybe the didn't dress so snappily- clothing designs had been taken over by Star and Gemini after they got tired of Wily's horrendous taste –and maybe their hair wasn't so long nor their movements so precise. But what right did that give them to stare?  
  
He began to think that maybe his identification number was showing but shook his head. No, that was on the back of his shoulder, most certainly covered up by his jacket. So why were they looking at him so oddly?  
  
His musings were cut short when something bumped against his thigh.  
  
A small girl, barely even taller than his knee, stumbled back slightly and bowed.  
  
"Pardon me." She said quietly before she walked off around him.  
  
Slash's brows furrowed as he watched the girl toddle off. He knew, straight off, that something was wrong with her, something different, but…  
  
He switched on an internal scanner, perhaps that would shed some light onto this mystery.  
  
It didn't really read anything abnormal. But… he switched to an electric sensor on a hypersensitive setting. Though it was mainly used for power surges, on its highest level the sensor could pick up the electron's movement in any given object, even a human.  
  
And this girl… there was a perceptible lack of movement between her eyes and her brain.  
  
Going through the knowledge he had accumulated, Slash frowned. It could be that… many of the pathways from her eyes were never fully formed. Birth defect? He wondered to himself. It could be possible…  
  
His ears picked up the sound of an engine, revving too loud, too fast for a commercial market just as the little girl stepped off the curb.  
  
Someone shrieked at the speeding car, police sirens wailing behind it, a TV news helicopter following from above.  
  
But she didn't seem to notice it at all and kept walking on.  
  
Slash's foot skidded on the asphalt, an arm wrapping around the girl's waist. With the way the car swerved all over the street, he couldn't chance diving across the way without getting hit. He turned, letting his moment settle on his planted toes and sprang back to the sidewalk from whence he came.  
  
The car zoomed by, two police vehicles tailing close behind and Slash hunched over the girl, keeping her close to his chest as his hair and jacket were pulled by the tearing wind the cars left behind.  
  
Onlookers crowded the two, voicing concerns and compliments on his bravery.  
  
He paid them no heed, just pulling back, the gold shine in his eyes fading, to look at the child he had just saved.  
  
She merely looked back up at him, eyes blank with a pearled sheen.  
  
///  
  
"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked for… a time long since uncounted.  
  
"Yes." She replied.  
  
Her name, he had learned, was Sierra. A quiet, filial girl, blind since birth whose mother was struggling to support the two after her father's death. She had an acute sense of hearing and a rather peaceful air around her.  
  
But then why, he had wanted to ask her, did she step out onto the street when the car's presence was loudly heard?  
  
Because… a reply floated on the edge of his awareness, something he didn't wish to think of for a child that young.  
  
Instead, he sat down beside her on a bench in the park. It was nice enough, no one bothered them after the initial shock wore off and she didn't request to be taken back home. So Slash had taken her to the park, talking to her more to calm his own nerves than to keep her safe.  
  
"I hope you don't find me rude…" he said, putting to use his learned wisdom. Dictation was a much more important matter in the real world than it was in the fortress. "But, how old are you?"  
  
"Such a cruel question, Slash-san, asking for a woman's age." She replied, swinging her feet idly. "But because you saved me, I'm six years old."  
  
"Six?" He blinked in surprise. "You seem…" he frowned, "I'm sorry. You just… /act/ older than other six year olds."  
  
"How many other six year olds do you know?"  
  
"Um…"  
  
She giggled at him. "It's all right. I'm often told I'm older than I seem."  
  
Slash leaned on his knees, peering into her sightless eyes. "How come? How did you get to be so smart?"  
  
"I'm a genius, Father had said. But because I'm blind, I had to listen to everything. So I heard everyone talking around me and I remembered."  
  
"Do you…" he hesitated, thinking he might be too harsh, "ever wished you could see?"  
  
There was a thoughtful silence, but Slash began to think he had hurt her with the question. But she shook her head.  
  
"Do you wish for something you've never experienced before? Something you've never understood? I don't know what it's like to see, no one can explain it to me. To me, I 'see' fine. I can hear other people and I can tell how far away they are. In a way, I can 'see' around me, just with my ears."  
  
"If you had the opportunity, though."  
  
She shook her head. "No. I can't."  
  
His brown eyes narrowed. "Why can't you?"  
  
"When Father was alive, he took me to the doctor and the doctor said that I could get an operation to see just a little. Not a lot, but my eyes could work right. But… it cost too much, even with Father and Mother both working. And now it's just Mother and money is so hard to get."  
  
"Well…." Slash sat up, scratching his neck as his mind left his logic far behind. "What if I gave the money to you?"  
  
There was another pause as Sierra turned her head towards him. "Why would you do that for someone you've just met?"  
  
"Sierra-san," he said quietly, "what do you 'see' when you 'look' at me?"  
  
Her fine brows came together as she thought. "I'm… not sure. You're older than me, I know. But you seem so young. A lot of adults ask me questions like yours, but you're different from them. You're like… a child." She looked down and the film over her eyes seemed to disappear enough to show their cerulean color. "But… you seem nice." Sierra raised her head again, smiling warmly at him. "I think I like you."  
  
That took him by mild surprise. For some reason he began to think, does she know I'm not human? Does she know she can't hear my heart beat? Can she not hear the machines inside me working? Or is it that she doesn't care?  
  
"Slash-san?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Can you stay a while?"  
  
He blinked, voice gone from his throat. But, looking at her upturned face, so hopeful and expectant, he believed he could see himself reflected on her face. Slash smiled, his large hand ruffling her hair, not caring what she knew about him.  
  
"Of course. I can stay with you." 


	2. Second: Connection

Lion's Cry  
  
Second: Connection  
  
by Lady Virgo  
  
  
  
"And from your  
  
broken eyes I  
  
had seen my soul  
  
reflected in you"  
  
///  
  
It wasn't very late by the time Slash returned to Skull Fortress but no one really paid much attention. In fact, the only ones that even noticed his absence were Ring, Crystal, Freeze and those few that they had told.  
  
And two that they haven't.  
  
As Slash worked his way towards the 7th wing, he found someone waiting for him.  
  
"Well, well, well." Pharaoh said, leaning against the wall. "Look who finally decided to show up. You weren't in your usual sulking grounds. Where were you?"  
  
Slash narrowed his eyes as the dark-haired robot. "What business is it of yours?"  
  
"We have some business to discuss."  
  
"And what 'business' might that be?"  
  
"The one dealing with the blatant vandalizing of an Enforcer."  
  
He scowled, partially turning is face from his elder. "It was practice and he was coming at me intent to do damage. I got to him first to keep me from taking any hits."  
  
"You hit him any more," Pharaoh said, his bright eyes narrowing dangerously, "they would've had to replace his whole arm."  
  
"Then be glad that I left it salvageable."  
  
As Slash began to walk away, Pharaoh held out an arm to block him.  
  
"I think you're missing the point here, Slashy." He said with a decidedly cruel grin. "We take care of our own. You damaged him good, so you should know the procedure."  
  
As Pharaoh took a step forward, Slash took an unconscious step back.  
  
"What sort of… procedures?"  
  
A hand encased his wrist like a molten shackle, twisting and pinning it behind his back as another arm wrapped around his waist, pinning the other arm to his body.  
  
"Procedures," a husky voice whispered in his ear, "that you should be well aware of by now."  
  
Slash shivered and cursed himself. He knew the rules well when it came to the Enforcers. No one, especially non-Enforcers were to touch another with violent intent unless specified by Pharaoh, Magnet or Wily. No one was to harm an Enforcer outside of training without painful repercussions. And anytime either Pharaoh or Magnet punished anyone…  
  
It was always together.  
  
In front of him, Pharaoh purred evilly, approaching, sure-step. Behind him he could feel Magnet chuckled. Though much shorter than Slash, he was, nonetheless impressively strong.  
  
He began to sweat, the two pressing against him, hands clawing at his body, eyes threatening to break his very soul. Klaxons in his mind blared 'WRONG!', wailing in his trembling body.  
  
But, as Pharaoh nipped at his jaw and down the line of his neck, as Magnet nuzzled his shoulder, what could he do?  
  
Something in his mind began to slip. His skin crawled, throat constricting as teeth played with his ear. He couldn't keep track of what they were doing to him, the world began to fade away. Slash clenched his jaw. He vowed not to give them pleasure of his struggling, of begging. His eyes shut tight the as last vestige of his strength left him.  
  
Until Magnet rocked his hips against his backside.  
  
…And something within him gave away.  
  
Eyes snapping open with a rumbling growl of thunder, his pupils were like pinpricks of black lost in shinning gold.  
  
He barely gave the two time to react. One minute, he was standing there, taking it fearfully, the next, he jolted forward, cracking Pharaoh with a head butt, giving Slash enough room to reverse the grip Magnet had on his wrist. With a strength the two Enforcers never imagined him to possess, he held Magnet's arm, hard enough to crush the armored layer and swung out, catching Pharaoh in the jaw. On the follow through, he redirected, smashing the underside of his chin with an upsweep and a spin kick, too fast to be seen, sending the Egyptian crashing into the bulk head, cracking an imprint on the wall, smearing it with blood.  
  
Slash turned to Magnet, who pressed against the opposite bulkhead, gripping his shoulder painfully. In the clawed Robot Master's hand, Magnet's arm still crackled with electricity, the biceps crushed from impacting on Pharaoh.  
  
He winced, internal fluids spilling around his fingers. What… What /was/ this guy?  
  
"If you ever come near me again," he growled low in his chest, "I'll kill you both." He didn't even wait for a reply, just threw the disembodied arm back to its owner, turned on his heel and stalked off leaving Magnet shivering where he sat.  
  
Those eyes… Those eyes were meant for a killer. One that had no remorse, no hesitation.  
  
Magnet scowled as he pulled himself to the comm unit on the wall. What sort of monster had Wily created?  
  
///  
  
In Skull Fortress next to nothing is left unknown to anyone. Even if one should choose and fight to be blissfully ignorant of what was going on with the others or had previously, they were all subject to the ruthless gossip that floating in clouds around them. Next to nothing was ever left buried and those that were never stayed dead for long.  
  
Except for this.  
  
Neither Magnet nor Pharaoh wished for such a stunning defeat to be made public. Power was their only vice and they'd do their damndest to make sure it wasn't taken away from them. Bad enough it had to be shared between them, but…  
  
The only other that knew what had happened was Ring, but, when Pharaoh had regained consciousness, he was quick persuaded not to tell anyone else as he fixed them up. Though Ring wasn't one to like keeping secrets, he knew better than to talk, especially when it concerned these two. After all, he lived in fear of Magnet and respected Pharaoh as his brother. He had said, as he finished reattaching Magnet's arm, that it would be a good idea to let it alone for a while. They'd just have to pass it off as being damaged from another fight between the two Heads.  
  
But, amazingly enough- or perhaps not, the one disinclined to speak of it the most was Slash. After all, he had no friends to tell, he wasn't talkative to begin with and he most certainly didn't feel it to be an event to brag about.  
  
Perhaps it was the fact that no one had heard of any 'punishment' coming to Slash for the damage he did to Skull that made the others give him a wider berth. Or maybe his eyes had become that much quicker to glow. Whatever the reason, Slash had come to feel much more antsy and irritated in the fortress. He had a taste of the real world and he wanted more than ever to stay out there.  
  
And he had a promise to keep.  
  
For a couple weeks, Slash would sneak out during the late afternoons after practice to head down to the park. Every time, Sierra would be sitting at the same bench as the first day and smile at him, becoming accustomed to his footsteps. It was risky, being out of the fortress for several hours at a time, but Slash didn't care much. But, just to humor his cautious self, he kept an open channel in case someone was calling for him.  
  
Sierra, however, never asked him any questions. She didn't wonder where he lived or what he did or why he spent so much time with her and eventually Slash stopped asking about her, either. They just sat and talked and enjoyed the process of being. It was soothing being with her, he had come to find. She was very intelligent for a child, very enlightening and in many cases she knew more than he did.  
  
And, as time went by, Slash had come to realize the importance of money.  
  
And the substantial lack he had.  
  
He had seriously considered pick pocketing, but brushed it off as being too risky and immoral.  
  
But he scoured the fortress for old, useless junk that no one bothered with anymore, pawning them off for a low, yet decent price. He had even gotten into the random business of repairing small things at the thrift shop. He didn't care much for doing it, or getting paid, but… money was needed and he wanted to make Sierra happy.  
  
She never asked where the money came from, she never asked why he spent it on her. She just smiled like she knew everything and thanked him. And it was fine by him, because he loved watching her smile.  
  
One day he had stayed out much later than he expected, the sun beginning to dusk. He offered to take Sierra home, the child beginning to nod off slightly. She smiled at him with sightless eyes and accepted.  
  
Her house was on the others side of the residential area, he had found as he carried her on his back. He felt bad for making her walk all that way, too dangerous for a little girl. Especially one that was blind.  
  
"It's all right." She said, small hands gripping lightly at his hair. "I don't mind. It's fun."  
  
"It's fun to walk all that way?"  
  
"No. But it's worth it. It's fun with you."  
  
Slash grinned at her over his shoulder. "Thank you. I try."  
  
"You're so kind to me." She snuggled against his back. "Do you mind if I call you 'niisan'?" Her arms reached over to hug his neck. "I've never had an older brother before. Could you be mine?"  
  
He couldn't help but blush slightly. "I-I've never had anyone call me that…" granted, he never had anyone call him much of anything… "But… I'd really like it. I'll be your brother. If there's any problems or anyone bothering you, I'll take care of it, okay?"  
  
"Okay!" She beamed, placing a childish kiss on his cheek.  
  
He chuckled at that, bumping his head lightly against hers and they continued the route in silence. They didn't need words when they were content with being with the other.  
  
It was those times that made Slash happy.  
  
And the other Robot Masters eventually came to realize this and overcame their fear of him.  
  
"He's back again."  
  
"I wonder where he goes."  
  
"I don't know. But it must be nice, he always comes back so happy."  
  
"What, absolutely no one knows where he goes?"  
  
"Nope. He just kinda disappears."  
  
"That's annoying…"  
  
"Hey, maybe if someone where to follow him…"  
  
"Already asked Shadow. He refused to do it."  
  
"Not surprised. He's not much for gossip or talking of any sort."  
  
"Hey, you don't suppose…"  
  
"What?"  
  
"That… Slash got a beau?"  
  
It was that suggestion that set Skull Fortress afire with talk.  
  
Could it be? Nah… who in their right mind would be involved with /that/ guy? So cold and cruel… But, many had to admit, whenever he returned, humming to himself, smiling slightly, he was rather handsome.  
  
He looked much better happy than he did whenever he was scowling, definitely.  
  
But it still left the question on /who/ it could be.  
  
A group of Robot Masters, ones that really didn't know when to keep to themselves, decided to find out, once and for all.  
  
"Okay, we all know how Slash is," Drill said, "his conversation skills must be so bad the best way should be to trick the answer out of him. Make him stumble and just blurt it out without him realizing he had."  
  
///  
  
"Yo, Slash."  
  
"Hm?"  
  
The drillmaster leaned over his younger, peering at the book he was attempting to become engrossed in.  
  
"What're you reading?"  
  
"Nothing I haven't read before." Came the reply. Drill frowned to himself. Getting Slash to talk enough to verbally trick him was going to be tough.  
  
So, he decided to get a bit more straightforward.  
  
"You've been pretty happy recently."  
  
"So I have."  
  
"Any particular reason why?"  
  
"None that would concern you."  
  
That line of conversation stopped dead right there.  
  
Okay! Let's try that again!  
  
He thought for a moment.  
  
"You're happy for some reason, right?"  
  
"Could be."  
  
"Have you found someone special?"  
  
"You could say that."  
  
Drill grinned. "I don't suppose I'll have to guess who it is."  
  
"Go ahead."  
  
All right! Pay dirt!  
  
"Right, is it-"  
  
"I didn't say I'd tell you if you're right or wrong, though."  
  
Well God damn…  
  
They regrouped again. "Okay, anyone else have any other ideas?"  
  
"Well," Centaur thought, "why doesn't someone just follow him around?"  
  
///  
  
He sighed tiredly. Slash could really move…  
  
It's been an hour and Slash had been maneuvering around the thick wooded training area. He moved like a monkey, or a cat. Or some sort of odd hybrid of both.  
  
But really… Centaur thought, his equestrian body ill made for forest maneuvers, it seemed more like Slash was taking him on a wild goose chase.  
  
He let out a yelp of surprise as something splashed against his legs, some sort of… red, gloppy thing…  
  
"Eww..!"  
  
"Be glad that's the only thing I'm doing to you." Centaur looked up and notice Slash, leaning against a tree trunk opposite him. In his hand he tossed a fist-sized capsule he kept within several hidden compartments in his armor. Centaur grimaced as he tried to move his legs in the glue- like mess.  
  
"I don't appreciate being followed, Centaur." He said. "But for the record, you want to not be noticed, don't step so heavily." Slash grinned cheekily before he turned to leave. "Later."  
  
The part-horse scowled, mucking about in the glop. "No /my/ fault I'm heavy set…" he grumbled before calling his friends to help him out.  
  
///  
  
"All right… third times a charm, boyos."  
  
"Seduction could work."  
  
The others goggled at him.  
  
"What!?"  
  
"How the hell would /seduction/ work? Who'd wanna seduce /Slash/?"  
  
"Think about it!" Gemini said. "If we did it in front of everyone, Slash would get too flustered and either he would say something or the guy he's seeing would give himself away!"  
  
They mulled over the suggestion.  
  
Hell, he came up with it, he could go through with it.  
  
During, of course, the dinner hours.  
  
As was his usual, Slash sat on his own, picking through his tray. Gemini nodded to the others, scattered strategically around the mess hall, before he made his move on the clawed Robot Master.  
  
"Ne, Slashy?" He ask, standing behind the other, chin resting on his shoulder. "What're you thinking about?"  
  
Beneath him he felt Slash tense. "Nothing you'd be interested in."  
  
"Aw, you can tell me." The other grinned, reaching up to play with the ends of Slash's long hair.  
  
He growled. "Is there any particular reason why I should?"  
  
"Because?" He giggled, throwing his arms around Slash's neck, nuzzling cheek to cheek. "Oh, come on! It's been two weeks and you haven't come close to anyone!" Gemini lowered his voice, blowing into Slash's ear. "If you're lonely, I can help you out."  
  
His teeth grazed softly against the outer rim of his ear…  
  
The next thing Gemini knew, he was on his back on the tabletop, and his throat rudely introduced to Slash's claws hovering a hair's width away. One thing about all the Robot Masters was the fact that the power in their armor was an amplified, larger version of raw talent they could use without it. And, asides from still being abnormally fast and strong outside his armor, Slash's claws were also equipped directly into his wrist.  
  
He shivered, fangs gritted. "Don't touch me." He growled. "Don't anyone /ever/ fucking touch me like that!" He sent a glowing glare to Gemini, then to everyone else in the mess hall before he turned and stalked out.  
  
The group shook themselves out of their shock as Gemini sat painfully up.  
  
"Well… that didn't go well."  
  
Gyro let out a huff, hand cupping his chin. "Why don't we just /ask/ him?"  
  
///  
  
"Hey, Slash?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
The group of five Robot Masters stood in front of him.  
  
"Could you just /tell/ us who's making you happy."  
  
"I could," he replied, then turned his back to them all, "but why would you care?"  
  
They looked at each other, a bit uncertain.  
  
"We're just… curious. That's all. I mean, it's nice that you're happy. We just want to know who's the cause." Centaur said, rubbing his head.  
  
Slash cast them a sideways glance. "Do you really wish to know?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"We promise we won't tell anyone else, either!" Gemini nodded emphatically.  
  
"Personally, I don't really care who you tell." He turned to face them. "But, since I know you won't leave me alone until I tell you, fine. The one who makes me happy…"  
  
They waited with baited breath…  
  
His brown eyes smiled.  
  
"A human."  
  
And he walked away, leaving them in a speechless wake. 


	3. Third: Vengeance

Lion's Cry  
  
Third: Vengeance  
  
by Lady Virgo  
  
  
  
"I had failed  
  
In this life  
  
there is no more  
  
reason to live"  
  
///  
  
It had rounded to a month after Slash's meeting with Sierra. It didn't really take very long for the people in the area to become familiar with him. After he started needing money, he was a regular to the thrift stores and pawnshops. During one of his visits to such a place, he couldn't help but notice an ancient phonograph sitting, dusty in a crevice of a shelf.  
  
The owner noticed him looking at the old device and informed him that it hadn't played in near a century.  
  
"What's wrong with it?" Slash asked, studying the piece carefully.  
  
"No one knows. No one knows how to repair it, either."  
  
He nodded then, still curious about it. His internal clock alerted him to being late for his meeting with Sierra.  
  
Later that night, however, he searched through several computer banks, remembering seeing a file about very old machines. He researched the parts, potential problems, tools… He didn't even know why. Maybe because he didn't like the idea of something being useless? Maybe because antiquities held a certain interest in him? Or maybe just for the fact that it was something he had never worked with before, a challenge of sorts.  
  
The next day, the old man looked up to find Slash in the doorway, a small bag slung over his shoulders.  
  
"Got more today?" He asked, shaking his head. "You keep getting us all that great stuff, you'll put us out of business."  
  
Slash just smiled and shook his head. "Not today. Actually, I wanted to look at the phonograph again."  
  
"Oh? Are you interested in buying it?"  
  
"Not really. Just wanted to try to fix it. Would you mind?"  
  
The man just laughed, waving the thin rag he used to police the fine wood of the countertop. "By all means, go ahead. If you get that old thing to work, well… Good luck."  
  
He smiled and nodded, not really paying much attention as he grabbed the phonograph and placed it on a secluded spot on the floor. It didn't take him too long figure out what the problems were. Just some old cogs- too old to be manufactured in this era –had worn loose and a couple of screws were clogging the system. The parts were easy to replace concerning who ran Skull Fortress. Wily was known to be a packrat of sorts. He had several storerooms filled with old, rather useless junk. But, among the garbage lay the priceless and the rare.  
  
And an old vinyl to fill the small store with its scratchy, slow ballad.  
  
It took the man at the counter a moment to realize what he was listening to. Music. Old, heartfelt music of the finest degree.  
  
Stunned, he looked at Slash, sitting by the machine, polishing the fine bronze horn carefully.  
  
"I-I don't believe it!" He said. "You actually got it to work!"  
  
He couldn't help but grin, pride welling deep inside. "Yeah. It was easier than I thought it would be." Slash stood, holstering the bag and its remaining contents on his back. "Thank you for your time." And he began to walk out.  
  
"Wait, sir!"  
  
He stopped and looked back. "Yes?"  
  
The old man was digging through one of the drawers. "Oh, sir. I must pay you for your help. This is a great wealth of luck to have it playing so well!"  
  
But he was stopped when the Robot Master chuckled, shaking his head. "Don't worry about it. I did it because I wanted to, I don't want any money." He waved and walked out. "I'll see you later."  
  
Though, the next time that he visited that store, it seemed his work was cut out for him.  
  
"Oh, sir! I'm so glad you're back!" The old man said, beaming wonderfully.  
  
Slash blinked in surprise. "Er, yeah?"  
  
"Yes!" He took Slash's hand, shaking it vigorously. "I had the phonograph playing a couple days after you fixed it and someone came in and asked about it. He was a friend of a semi-prolific collector and they came in and bought it! Sir, you don't know how indebted I am to you! If it wasn't for you fixing it…," he shook his head, "I would've missed out on one of the best sales of my /life/! Here, here!" He dove behind the counter and opened one of the drawers. "I know you said you didn't want any money, but I must insist! Because you fixed it, I insist that you take half the sale." With great flourish, the old man slammed a wad of bills down on the counter. "There, all for you."  
  
It was… a surprise to say the least. "How much… is that?" He asked.  
  
"$25,000."  
  
Slash frowned. "Dollars? As in American currency?"  
  
"Yes, yes. She was an American collector. Should you exchange it, of course, it's quite the hefty sum in yen."  
  
Well, yes of course… the yen was, at the moment, much weaker to the dollar. So that would translate… he calculated in his head. "That's over 400,000 yen!" He said, gaping.  
  
"Yes, it is." The old man beamed. "And I have you to thank for that money. Saa, here you are." He pushed the wad over to the shocked robot. "Take it."  
  
Now, Slash was far from the fool and far from being able to connect one event to another.  
  
If someone was willing to pay nearly 900,000 yen for such an antique, he could surely make more money off fixing things than just bringing in other things. And the more money he could make… something inside trilled at the idea, then he could pay for Sierra's constructive surgery for her eyes. She'd be able to see.  
  
Sure, the operation was expensive, costing several million, but…  
  
He clenched his fist with a smile.  
  
"If there's anything you or someone else needs fixed, be sure to let me know." He grinned waving himself out.  
  
Soon afterwards he came to be known around the pawning circuit as 'Fix-it'. The owners asked him every once in a while what his name was, but he smiled, saying, "Whatever you want to call me is fine by me." So he was dubbed 'Fix-it', which suited him fine. After all, 'Slash' wasn't much better a name when it came to social titles.  
  
He was famed for fixing everything. And those he couldn't fix right away, he studied over night and fixed the next morning. He really didn't mind it. It was much different being asked to fix things than being asked to do anything by Wily. In the fortress he was just another mindless drone becoming combat ready. With the others, he had the power, he was in control. They /asked/ him to fix things, they didn't pressure him. They let him take his time, if he said he wouldn't or couldn't fix something, fine, they backed off, they paid him well for his time. He was looked /up/ upon amongst the other humans, he was appreciated and revered for his ability.  
  
He was, in short, happy.  
  
"You seem like it."  
  
"Do I?"  
  
"Yes." She was leaning against his arm, feet propped up on the bench.  
  
"Are you happy?"  
  
"I'm always happy when you're here."  
  
"Oh?" He peered down at her calm face. "And why is that?"  
  
Sierra smiled brightly. "Because you're here and I can talk to you. Because you're niisan and you always take care of me."  
  
He grinned, draping an arm down her shoulder, giving her a hug. "That's because I can talk to you. You make me happy."  
  
She gripped his wrist with tiny fingers, snuggling into the crook of his arm.  
  
"Ne, Slash-niisan?"  
  
"Hm?"  
  
"Do you have a girlfriend?"  
  
He blinked brown eyes as she looked up at him, face innocent.  
  
"No." He said, curiously. "Do I need one?"  
  
"Everyone needs someone that cares about them." Came the response.  
  
"I have you."  
  
"Ah."  
  
They sat quietly for a while, the cool March breeze milling around them.  
  
"Slash-niisan?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"When I grow up, and you have no one else that cares, can I be your girlfriend?"  
  
The request caught him off-guard. Did she really not know his true origins? Did he, as a robot, really need someone to care about him as a lover?  
  
But, turning it over in his head, he smiled and gave her hand a squeeze.  
  
"Of course."  
  
The way her face lit up, so bright and hopeful, it made him feel like there was nothing more precious in the world. And at that moment, he wanted to spend the rest of his existence with her, to make her happy, to make her smile so beautifully.  
  
She turned to stand on her knees, his hand captured in hers, held against her. "I'll grow up beautiful for you."  
  
Slash grinned, ruffling her hair with his free hand. "You're beautiful enough right now."  
  
And adorable pouted painted her lips. "I want to be more so for you." But she leaned against him again, tucked under his arm, smiling, small arms trying to encircle his waist. "But if you like me how I am, I won't chance."  
  
"Good." He said. "I don't ever want you to change."  
  
///  
  
He had been coming back to the fortress progressively later, it was becoming apparent to everyone. He kept leaving earlier and earlier, sometimes even slipping out before training even ended and he wouldn't come back until passed sundown. On occasions he wouldn't even report in for Lights Out, even to fake it as most everyone else did.  
  
Everyone was becoming worried about it. Especially since Wily, whose natural unobservant nature and cluttered mind had taken a turn for the worse recently, had begun to notice. If Slash knew, he didn't care. He had business, he had friends and, most importantly, he had Sierra to think about. What room was there left for Wily and the Robot Masters?  
  
But the doctor wouldn't allow himself to be forgotten, especially by one of his creations.  
  
"Slash." The PA system announced, no room for argument or ignorance being allowed. "Come to the main lab. Immediately!"  
  
The other Robot Masters were hushed quiet, parting silently as Slash passed. His armor clanked around him dimly, the only noise the permeated the halls. Behind him the path refilled with the others, discussing under their breaths the punishment Slash had brought down upon himself.  
  
The door whooshed open with nary a sound and a clawed boot stepped through the threshold. He pulled off his helmet, resting it between his hands.  
  
"You wanted to see me, sir?" He asked, voice a low rumble.  
  
The doctor turned around. Next to him sat a tray filled with sterilized tools that gleamed gunmetal silver.  
  
"Slash," Wily said, slowly approaching the robot. "Where have you been running off to?"  
  
"No where, sir."  
  
"I should think that you are. You've been disappearing quite a bit the passed few days."  
  
He stood at attention, mouth a thin line.  
  
"You're not protecting anyone with your silence, child." A clawed hand traced along the tray as he turned his back to Slash. "Where have you been going."  
  
"No where. Sir."  
  
"Do not /lie/ to me, Slash." He spat, snarling around his words. "I know where you've been. Why must you insist on abandoning your brothers each day?"  
  
"With all due respect, Wily-sama. They are not my brothers." He stood straight-backed. "I will not acknowledge them as such."  
  
"And why do you hate them?"  
  
"They are annoying, useless and stupid. I will not admit allegiance with them."  
  
"But you would rather," Wily said, fingers gripping the handle to a thin blade, "announce allegiance with humans. Disgusting."  
  
Slash's eyes narrowed, flashing slightly. "And what would you know about those who I encounter? /Sir/."  
  
It surprised the robot how fast such an old, fragile human could move. Wily darted across the lab, grabbing one of Slash's forelocks and pulling him painfully down.  
  
"I will not be addressed in such disdain!" He shouted in his ear, the knife held in white knuckles. "I know where you've been and I know what you have been doing, child! I will not tolerate insubordination!"  
  
His mind flashed with warning and conflict, body tensing but the mind that swore allegiance to all humans, namely Wily, refused release.  
  
"Let… go." He gritted out, hands flexing but unmoving.  
  
"I hold power over you, child." He hissed. "It is much /easier/ to take your life than it is to give it. Remember who your God is. And be sure to remember," he stabbed the knife into Slash's throat, "who your devil is."  
  
He gagged, fingers scarping along the thin metal as blood vomited from his lips. His breath rasped painful, pain crackling in his mind.  
  
He couldn't breath. He couldn't think.  
  
He fell to his knees, trying to pull the blood slick blade from his neck.  
  
Wily moved around the gasping robot, keying in the armor recall on the Flash Case. A pair of scissors, those always kept in his lab pocket, snipped mindlessly against his clothing, slicing deep on Slash's epidermal layer. But the pain was lost in his echoing mind.  
  
The world went black. He wasn't even aware when he hit the floor.  
  
Wily just smiled, fingering the auto-shut down trigger against the small of Slash's back.  
  
"I won't let another leave me…" he said quietly. "I've had too many leave me. I won't let you or any of the others go." He smiled in malicious glee as he left the robot master bleeding on the floor. Instead, he stood next to another stasis chamber, a lanky, partially constructed body floating inside.  
  
"You won't leave me, will you? My perfection. My greatest." He cackled under his breath, fingers tracing the plaque by the tube. S… W… N… "None will defy me…" 


	4. Final: Perish

Lion's Cry  
  
Final: Perish  
  
by Lady Virgo  
  
  
  
"End this pain  
  
give back her life  
  
give me oblivion  
  
and let my crying fade"  
  
///  
  
It… hurt.  
  
God, it more than hurt, there was no word to describe the excruciating pain that laced down his throat. He wanted to scream so badly, but it hurt just to breathe.  
  
Damn sadistic old bastard. He thought, trying to articulate passed the painful blockage in his throat. What did he do to me?  
  
"Slash? Slash, you okay?"  
  
It took a moment for him to dare open his eyes. The one that hovered over him was, however, kind enough to block the light source with his body, easing on his dilated pupils.  
  
"Slash?"  
  
He opened his mouth to speak, to ask who it was, but as the first syllable passed his lips, it set his throat on fire. He tried not to cough and gag against the pain, which only lead it to hurt more, clawing at his chest, trying to sooth his nerves.  
  
"Here, here. Just rest. I'll take care of it." The figure moved, washing Slash in light and making him wince. The other, he heard, was tapping around a keyboard, cursing beneath his breath.  
  
He squinted, trying to align his optical sensors correctly. The form was thin, willowy. His hair was so white it seemed to give off a frosted halo.  
  
Freeze…? He wanted to say. Instead, his brother swore louder.  
  
"I'm sorry." He said, deep voice soft. He turned to Slash with blue eyes so clear, filled with regret. "Wily-sama blocked all access to your pain receptors. You'll have to deal with it until the nanites integrate the chip with the rest of your system." It was fairly new technology, Freeze being the first to be built with partial nanotechnology. They weren't that powerful and could only integrate new systems with the main programs, or knit small wounds. Either way, it was a painful process.  
  
Slash shook his head, grabbing Freeze's arm. 'Why?' he mouthed painfully. The elder was one of the most loyal Robot Masters created. He didn't have much of a spine when it came to those stronger than him and he was, more or less, the perfect lapdog. He did things without question, without hesitation, always looking for a way to help someone out. So why was he risking himself for him?  
  
The ice master just smiled slightly. "I'm programmed to be a medical robot. I don't like seeing others in pain." He placed a pale hand on Slash's throat carefully. "I'll try something to numb the pain, okay?"  
  
He merely nodded. The hand became cold, numbing down the nerves and deadening the pain along his neck. Slash shivered out a sigh of relief.  
  
"Thank you…" he managed to croak, but winced when speaking still proved to hurt too much.  
  
"Ne, Slash…" Freeze began, not really looking at the clawed robot. "You're not very popular around here at the moment. Because you kept sneaking out… Wily-sama… h-he put in a choke chip. In all of us. If we step off the compound or make him upset, he says that he'll… choke us to death." His hand twitched slightly against Slash's throat. "What's so great outside of the fortress?"  
  
It wasn't much of a comforting gesture, it could probably not even be considered a brotherly gesture. But Slash placed a hand over Freeze's wrist. "I have…" he rasped, "promises…" He pulled the hand from his throat and sat up, trying to hold back another round of painful coughing.  
  
"Slash!" Freeze was by his side, holding onto his arm. "Don't get up. You still need to rest."  
  
"No…" he wheezed. "Promised…"  
  
"Slash, please. Don't do this."  
  
"I…"  
  
"Slash!"  
  
"…must…"  
  
"I don't want-"  
  
"…see…"  
  
"-to shut you off-"  
  
"…her."  
  
"-but…"  
  
His hand, outstretched, fell limply over the table. Head bowed, he tilted lifelessly against Freeze.  
  
"I'm sorry, Slash." He said, petting the long spiked hair. "I can't let you hurt yourself…"  
  
After that incident, Slash was kept under relatively heavy surveillance courtesy of the friendlier, more compassionate group of Robot Masters.  
  
It wasn't them that bothered Slash so much, though. It was the fact that he wasn't allowed in the outer area of the fortress. The only place he was allowed access anymore was deep within the heart of the base, never outside, even for training. He was becoming so overwhelmed by wanderlust and the need to see Sierra that his temper had become even shorter, he snapped at everyone, he refused to eat and would take out his frustrations on anything that got in his way. Walls, tables, random inanimate objects, even the occasional Robot Master.  
  
But, what made him the most irritable was what the other Robot Master would do in retaliation.  
  
Ever since the incident with Gemini in the mess hall, it came to be known that Slash was, in fact, not interested in guys. It was chalked up to the fact that Wily seemed to put down an animalistic base personality for the clawed robot, making him competitive for top spots and making him aggressive whenever another tried to challenge his position. Including being 'invaded', even in a relationship.  
  
It wouldn't have mattered to the others so much, that is, if Slash hadn't become, during his incarceration, so adamant about his position on relationships that he couldn't even stand the sight of any of the others 'getting it on', so to speak.  
  
The crueler, grudge-carrying robots labeled him as 'homophobic' and made it their business to mercilessly tease him. Either by enacting a loving scene purposefully in his presence, or jokingly trying to get him to join them.  
  
However, because of the choke chip, Slash was unable to do anything to stop them. The first time he had, Wily, keeping a closer eye on him until he had shown signs of taming, activated the chip, leaving him gasping on his knees. That had only encouraged the others to continue their torturing.  
  
And the others, those that kept an eye on him more for his protection, didn't do anything to help him.  
  
Before, Slash's isolation was self-imposed. He knew that, if he really wished, he could shake off his hermitage and find friends among his peers. But this… He had no one to turn to, no one was willing to help him. It wasn't him that was pushing everyone away, but everyone else that turned their backs on him, that didn't want a thing to do with him.  
  
It… hurt.  
  
His room was no longer a haven from the brain dead antics of the other Robot Masters. Now it was a sanctuary from the others. Curled under his covers, all communication channels blocked, all he could do was wish to be back outside again.  
  
"Sierra…" he said quietly, flipping idly through a stack of bills he had accumulated to help pay for her operation. "I wonder what you're doing right now. I wonder if you miss me…"  
  
///  
  
"Man… I knew it'd cause trouble if we didn't pick it up."  
  
"I thought it was destroyed."  
  
"You mean you didn't know? That was the prototype for nanotech. Damn, just think of all the pain it went through the passed year."  
  
"Ouch."  
  
"Explains why he's so grouchy."  
  
He didn't really pay attention to the conversation as he walked in. The recroom wasn't his most favorite place to be in at the moment. But, he was the type that liked knowing what was going on with the world. And there was no way he'd be able to know it hiding in his room.  
  
A handful of Robot Masters were there. All had stopped their activities to watch the view screen, turned into the local news.  
  
On it was a scene of intense fighting. The main focus of the camera was the large, dinosaur that lunged about the place. The same one that, if memory served, Wily had placed in his last fortress, one of the many obstacles Rock had overcome in order to stop the doctor. Or at least, Slash assumed that it was the same one. It limped as it lumbered, mechanics clearly visible under the molted scales, torn and burnt from its previous battle.  
  
The scene switched to a newsroom with a pretty young woman at a desk.  
  
"For those of you just joining us now," she said, "we are currently showing a visual of the fight between Rock Man and a robotic dinosaur of some sort. It started in the country side, but moved its way west towards the outskirts of-" There was a tremendous noise and the woman shrieked. On the screen, the small split screen that was the view of the battle lurched over suddenly, the world spinning around them before blacking out and becoming static. The woman, clearly shaken up and pale, sat trembling unsure of what to do. "W-We…" her voice was shaking, "we have just lost our camera. P-Please hold while we deal with the… the problem."  
  
The Robot Masters were laughing, /laughing/ at the display, making crude comments to the screen.  
  
But Slash stood there, stunned, shocked, silent.  
  
The camera, just before it broke, showed a shot of the area.  
  
A commercial district.  
  
It showed a shot of the Sister's Thrift Store just before it went out.  
  
Owned by two elder women whose main light he had fixed.  
  
Just a week ago…  
  
His lungs tried to expel all the air out of him.  
  
They were…  
  
They were…  
  
…fighting near the park.  
  
…fighting in the market area.  
  
…fighting near Sierra.  
  
He left before anyone realized he was even there.  
  
///  
  
Skull Fortress was quite a ways off from the city, several miles, nearly an hour driving. But from its position on a hill, the city was in clear view, sprawled in along the trees.  
  
And perhaps Wily had purposefully miss-instructed them all or it was Freeze's way of trying to keep Slash from getting into anymore trouble. Either way, the moment he stepped off the compound, he didn't stop, but kept running, throat clenched, expecting to be choked at any moment. But the pain never came.  
  
He wondered idly if Wily /did/ do anything to him, after all…  
  
He ran, full speed, calling out his armor to give him the extra boost of speed and kept a channel open to a talk radio station, trying to find out more on the status of the fight.  
  
"-the authorities have evacuated the residence, but the panic is making it hard to keep order-"  
  
"-several people are missing when the first of the buildings were destroyed and-"  
  
"-wounded and dozens more presumed dead-"  
  
"-wonder why this happened-"  
  
"-robot of Dr. Wily and-"  
  
"-another building-"  
  
"-another building-"  
  
"-another building-"  
  
"-had just been destroyed."  
  
He snarled, eyes burning. He diverted all power to his boosters, racing towards the city.  
  
///  
  
He had nearly made it into the outskirts, half an hour's run, when the choke chip activated.  
  
It caught Slash completely by surprise, causing him to stumble, gripping his throat reflexively. Wheezing, he blearily looked around, trying to figure out where exactly he was.  
  
He struggled against the chip, charging around the rubble that littered the once beautiful park. He ignored it. He had somewhere to go, someone to save.  
  
But as he ran, the chip began to get stronger, sucking at his power grid to squeeze his airway.  
  
But he couldn't stop.  
  
His eyes glowed brighter, trying to drive back the foreign attacker in his body, trying to get him to his destination.  
  
His vision swam, his lungs burned, he could feel several grids burning themselves out, but still he pushed forward.  
  
He had to save her.  
  
He had to get to her.  
  
He had to.  
  
Another rooftop crashed down around, smashing against his armor, sending him off balance, dust clogging his mouth.  
  
He couldn't breath. He couldn't see. He couldn't…  
  
Almost there… almost…  
  
The building he remembered, rundown, but lively, lay in ruins. Half of it stood, threatening to crumble in on its on itself while the other half spilled into the streets.  
  
She couldn't have died. He raped, reaching out with a trembling hand.  
  
He was raising money for her operation.  
  
He was making her a bracelet for her birthday.  
  
She was turning 7 in November.  
  
She was so young and intelligent.  
  
The choking was wracking his body so badly, he stumbled to his knees, what could have been considered bile forcing its way through his throat.  
  
Almost there… He was so close.  
  
Si…err…a….  
  
He didn't have the strength to stand up. He crawled, arm stretched to its fullest.  
  
He blacked out.  
  
A yard away from a young, broken hand protruding out from under the rubble.  
  
///  
  
He didn't know the time when he opened his eyes again. He could hear beeping and a couple others scurrying about. They were talking. Talking about him, about the chips he let burn out, about how much they had to replace in him.  
  
He heard them call him an idiot.  
  
He heard them call him stupid.  
  
He heard them say Man was a waste of time.  
  
He heard them praise the manic dinosaur.  
  
He heard them say…  
  
…they deserved their fate.  
  
And he saw Sierra's calm face staring up at him, heedless of the death she had barely missed.  
  
And he saw Sierra's wonderful smile against the cool of the park.  
  
And he saw Sierra's home, struggling, but never giving up, her mother, tired, but with a silent grace that could never be beaten down. The kids in the street, destitute, but happy, begging him to play with them. The store owners, trying their best to make money in a market of the poorly paid middle class, but the friendliest people in the world.  
  
And he saw the buildings broken, the people that he come to know bleeding and screaming and crying and others laying dead, faces frozen in shock, the homes and stores they worked so hard to keep a smoldering wreckage.  
  
And he saw Sierra's hand, so tiny, so fragile, reaching out for him from the broken building.  
  
The Robot Masters jumped at the sudden outburst, turning to see Slash, prone on the lab table. He snarled, roared, jerking against the shackles that kept him pinned to the table.  
  
They knew that Wily had warned them that Slash would be barbarous when he woke up, he had instructed them to chain him down tightly. But…  
  
He was like a wild animal, desperate and raging against the cage that oppressed him.  
  
Snarling, he kept pulling against the binds, letting the hard metal crush against his wrist as he struggled.  
  
One of the onlookers realized what he was trying to.  
  
"He's trying to break the arterial tubing!" He cried, moving to pin the hand to the table. Another followed him with gauze and undid the binding in order to wrap the wound as yet another prepared a tranquilizer shot.  
  
But, once the shackle was open, Slash's eyes glowed fiercely, striking his palm against the underside of one's chin, then swiping them both aside with one sweep of his arm. With a roar, he unsheathed his claws and dug them into his own wrist, bare and clenched.  
  
"Fuck! He's trying to kill himself!" The third gaped, then clicked open the comm unit. "We need people in the secondary lab! Slash is loose!"  
  
He tried to get in close in order to give the give the shot to the clawed Robot Master, the other two attempting to hold him down, but…  
  
Slash just threw them off of him, tearing one open from cheek to shoulder, breaking another's shoulder with a knife strike. And the third was pushed back with a palm thrust, the shot dropping to the ground, the bottle he held shattered against the computer panel he fell against. The liquid shorted out the system, plunging the room into darkness before the backup lights came up. The other three binds on Slash popped open.  
  
"Shit…"  
  
Slash sprung from the table, lashing out against the security cameras hanging against the walls, frothing. Before the last camera hit the floor, he charged at the large computer banks attacking them mercilessly, sending sparks and shrapnel flying, small fires starting among the wiring.  
  
Wily must have been watching. The computer screens, the ones that lined all over the walls and counters, all flickered on at the same time. Each one held a scene of the fight between the dinosaur and Rock. But it wasn't the fight that they showed, but rather, the destruction of one of the buildings.  
  
Of Sierra's home.  
  
He stood, still, arms trembling as the scene of the side of the building sliding down was replayed.  
  
Over.  
  
Over.  
  
Over again.  
  
He roared angrily, attacking the view screens that dotted the lab. Smashing the screen, pulling at the wires, the gutted the lab in his rage. And when the screens stopped playing, he watched the destruction in his minds eyes.  
  
He couldn't handle it. He couldn't deal with the emotions that raged inside of him, tearing him apart inside.  
  
He gripped his head, crying, screaming, trying to make sense, trying to regain control.  
  
He couldn't take it.  
  
He couldn't deal.  
  
He couldn't live like this.  
  
He clawed at his eyes, trying to pry the pictures from his very head.  
  
"God, somebody /stop/ him!"  
  
It was a scene of a macabre sort, watching him trying to dig his eyes from his face. By that time, Stone and Guts had come in. They didn't have to be told what to do. They charged at Slash's side, pulling his arms away from his face. One eye was already damaged, red fluid leaking into the whites, blood spilling over his cheek, the other, the skin was torn around the crevice, the plating beneath had buckled under the force of his fingers. He wailed against their grip, trying to shake away, jerking and pushing and pulling and screaming incoherently.  
  
Slash was a hard one to keep a hand on, they struggled to keep him between them. And when Wily entered…  
  
His eyes flared nearly white when he saw the doctor, they could hear his grids powering up, whirling in the sudden surge. He lunged out, almost slipping from the two Robot Master's grasp. They kept themselves between Wily and the raging robot, but Slash wouldn't let them defeat him so easily. He strained against their impressive bulk, legs quivering as pushed against them. The floor buckled slightly under the stress and slowly… slowly but noticeably, he began to push the two back.  
  
They were startled, to say the least, and braced themselves down. But Slash felt them give ground, and with a roar, the mechanics in his legs beginning to burn themselves out, he rushed against them, sending them off balance and on to the floor.  
  
Then… he charged at Wily, claws outstretched.  
  
And his voice cut off abruptly.  
  
Not just his voice, but his breathing.  
  
He could feel the choke chip burning against his throat as it clogged his air passage, not letting air in or out of his body.  
  
Slash staggered forward, collapsing at Wily's feet. He couldn't even make a sound, trying to claw the chip from his neck.  
  
Wily just snarled at the downed Robot Master. "Pitiful." That said, he lashed out with a foot, catching Slash in the jaw, flipping the weakened 'bot onto his back. He watched him try to speak, try to breathe. "I told you, my dear child. It is much easier for me to destroy you. Much easier… than for you to try and kill me."  
  
He couldn't speak, the world fading from his eyes again. He wanted to cry and wail against the futility of it all, but lacked the strength. He wanted die, he wanted it to end.  
  
He wanted Sierra back…  
  
In the end, all he got was the empty blackness that only held the tortured screaming of those he had befriended, tearing apart his mind each moment he closed his eyes, ripping away at his will until the time he finally listed away.  
  
…till death. 


End file.
